Wall Street Journal Receives Envelopes Containing White Powder

The Wall Street Journal received more than a dozen envelopes containing an unknown white powder, and New York City police and hazardous materials crews are investigating the matter, a spokesman said.

The mail was addressed to several New York-based executives at the newspaper published by News Corp.’s Dow Jones & Co. At least 10 of the envelopes are being held in the mailroom of the Journal’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, while at least three others have been distributed throughout the building, the spokesman said.

The floor shared by newspaper executives and editorial-page employees has been evacuated.

The suspicious envelopes, addressed by hand in pen, arrived with different return addresses but the same Tennessee-based postmark. One envelope, addressed to Robert Thomson, the Journal’s managing editor, was opened by one of his assistants, a spokesman confirmed.

A Dow Jones executive sent New York City-based Journal employees an email cautioning them not to open any mail. “While we don’t think there is cause for alarm at this time, we are asking everyone not to open any mail while we investigate,” Dow Jones vice president of communications Howard Hoffman said in the email.